This is all by design. Once they have you/us/them captured again, we're going to take another trip around the "raise prices and squeeze services until it's unsustainable, because shareholder and CEO profit". It has all happened before and it will all happen again.
The cloud is just someone else's computer. The uber is just someone else's car. Streaming is just someone else's media library. They have you right where they want you, dependent on them.
It certainly hearkens back to the nostalgia of having a dedicated audio player like the legendary walkman. The sad truth is that it's an expensive lesson in obsoletion. If you think support for android OS lifecycle was bad... wait until you have a bug in your player.
They are high quality and often perform very well, but at the end of the day, you have a sealed battery device that has a limited lifespan based on OS and firmware updates. I'd sooner recommend a good portable DAC Amp and using whatever source you prefer.
My OTG setup is my cellphone as a media player. It runs PowerAMP and generally gets used with bluetooth on a FiiO BTR7 portable amp. 200$ for a fantastic balanced THXAAA series amp stage that works with any source, wired or wireless, vs over 1000$ more for a comparable DAP. The choice is pretty clear.
Other high end DAPs have suffered similar fates and have poor resale values/audiences. Remember the Pono? I didn't think so 😆
Sooner or later you’ve sunk thousands of dollars into it.
Yep. Though I will argue that, at least for me, it's so, so worth it. Music is a gift that never stops giving. If there's one thing in my home that will ALWAYS put a smile on my face, it's my dac/amp stack and my favorite cans. That's priceless, imo. Very few other items that I own can do this.
Those gorgeous, piercing eyes... what a beauty!